crazy? or not?

[stinkbait85]

I have a 16 ft aluminum bass boat that I want to convert to a center console. Here is my idea the front deck is 4ft long and at widest point 4ft wide. It has 1 storage compartment and 1 livewell. The center of the deck is right between the two. I plan to cut the deck in half leaving only the forward portion which is storage. The rear deck is 3ft long plus a 1ft flap hatch for fuel tank and batteries. I want to remove the rear deck leaving only the area to house the tank and batteries. Also I want to build a center console just wide and deep enough to house the steering mech. And a few guages. From inside the boa( I can see the outer walls of the hull. There is an 8 inch wide rail on top of the boat sides where I have mounted flush mount rod holders. I wouls like to attach these rails to the floor using sheet aluminum to retain structural rigidity. Can it be done? Of course. Is it a good idea? Not sure. Please advise

 

[Chris1956]

Re: crazy? or not?

You might post a picture to help us.

You are removing some of the support that the hull gets from the top cap. You will want to replace this support with something else. Some center console boats have raised decks in the front which give support, as well as provide seating.

The width of the gunwales also provides strength to the hull. You should be cautious about removing this support.

 

[stinkbait85]

Re: crazy? or not?

You said that the width of the gunwales provide support also. That is what I meant when I talked about attaching the "rail" to the floor with sheet aluminum. And filling empty space with foam. Half of the front deck will remain and a solid bench will be where the rear deck was to provide support as well as seating for passengers

 

[stinkbait85]

Re: crazy? or not?

To get a good picture in your head of the boat think of a fiberglass bass boat. Not a jon boat style boat like a tracker or lowe. This is a fisher sv16gt

 

[ondarvr]

Re: crazy? or not?

Why do you want to convert it to a CC?

 

[capt sam]

Re: crazy? or not?

Guys converting their bass boats from up north to flats boats when they move here is fairly common given that the hulls are similiar, go for it.

 

[stinkbait85]

Re: crazy? or not?

Well.....I do A LOT of catfishing here in southside va. And with only 6ft of floor space plus a side console plus a 30 gal bait tank plus one other person it is really cramped and just not practical especially during a tournament when you have 20 rods hangin off the boat. I have fished with my uncle many times on his 18ft aluminum cc crestliner and it is a world off diff. I'm a new dad and as you can imagine money is tight. And selling my rig and buying another is out of the question especially when it is paid for. Really though. I just want more room so I'm not tripping over stuff trying to get to a bent over rod as well as comfort. I also like to stand up and drive especially at night when traveling the dan river which has already claimed a few props and a driveshaft

 

[ondarvr]

Re: crazy? or not?

I'm a bit biased, I've owned a couple of CCs and there are only a few things they excel at and one is like you mentioned, an excellent view from the helm. The smaller the CC the less room and storage there is, plus it can be very difficult to get around the console, large CCs are much better though. I dislike my current 19' CC so much that it gets used very little and I'm thinking of changing the layout.

 

[stinkbait85]

Re: crazy? or not?

Well if I do everything I'm talking about I will have a little over 11 feet by 6 feet of open space. I've also considered the stick steering thing. We did that to my bro in laws boat and it works great. My problem is the stick steering controls I've found are rated to 70.or 75 hp and I have a 90 merc on this boat and she will fly. I'm keeping up with boats with 150's on em. It can be scary in the front of the boat with nothing between you and the water in the dark at 55-60 mph in 3 feet of water

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: crazy? or not?

why don't you two just swap hulls and call it a day

 

[ondarvr]

Re: crazy? or not?

Some pics would be great.

TD has a pic of a CC conversion he did, its one of the best layouts I've seen on a smaller boat. I looked for it a couple of times and haven't been able to find it, someone else may be able to though.

 

[tswiczko]

Re: crazy? or not?

Crazy (just kiddin)




Sounds like a lot of work do your controls currently run between the deck and hull or do they run beneath the gunwale, and need moving to the cc along with all the electric. Do you plan to make acess to all the electirc and controls in the floor I know all that stuff on my boat runs under the gunwale and I would hate to have to move it, especially to below the deck, or box them in under the gunwale where I may have an acessability issue if something ever happened on the water and could make simple repair that would get me back to a nightmare and be stuck somewhere adgitated with only a little more pacing room

 

[stinkbait85]

Re: crazy? or not?

well the control cables are ran through the gunwale right now. but like i said before the rear deck will be removed as far back as the hatch for the fuel tank and batteries. a bench seat will be mounted from one side to the other up against the hatch for passengers. the cables will then be ran through a hatch door that i will make for easy access in the floor. it has all been thought of and considered. i'm gonna post pics before, during, and after the build just as soon as i can figure out how to do that.